On sitting
Another fine, sunny day here in Germany, and I've just finished sitting. Only ten minutes because I couldn't really concentrate, so I'll have another try this evening. Dale started 100 Days as a sort of clubhouse and support organization for meditators, a place of mutual reinforcement on the way to becoming a regular meditator (the name derives from the theory that it takes 100 days to establish a new habit). Thanks to Zhoen for giving me the nudge to join in, I had seen the site before but somehow thought that it "wasn't for me." Whatever that might mean.
I'm still very new at this meditation thing, and although I enjoy it and feel good (clean, calm, happy) afterwards, my Type-A gotta-get-it-just-right mind can't stop gnawing on whether I am really "doing it properly." Whatever that might mean.
It's symptomatic of my personality and my life that I would rather believe what I read in a book about meditation, than what my body and mind tell me after having meditated.
Anyway.
I realized something about the seminar last autumn while meditating today. We started each day with something much like this sitting meditation, only standing up (eyes closed, body relaxed, shake out all the tension, and then just concentrate on breathing) which we also repeated after the more emotionally intense exercises. As I was meditating today, I had a sort of flashback to the mood of those relaxation exercises, which I think was caused by listening to my breathing as I had then heard the room full of us breathing: one might call it a form of self-hypnosis.
In other news I actually saw something that I've always known in theory: that the moon orbits around the earth. As I went to a party on Sunday evening, I noticed that the moon was to the west of Mars, about half its own diameter away. As I left the party at midnight, the moon was nearly two diameters east of Mars! Amazing. I've been looking at the night sky for 47 years now, but have never seen that before.
posted by Udge @ 11:29
4 Comments:
I am fascinated with the idea of meditation but frequently find that I am unable to sit still very long. My mind drifts constantly. I do remember doing the exercises you speak of when I was acting in plays put on by my church. We would do these before rehersals and performances. I may have to try it again.
Sitting is harder than it looks. I always thought it looked easy til I started doing it. Good luck with it.
While I think there is value in meditation, I find it hard to do. My mind is always wanting to race away and tell me about the 800 things I am not doing. It takes dedication and I admire that you are trying it out.
Great observation about the moon & Mars. It is neat when you discover something you believe, but have never noticed personally.
I don't think I could meditate for the same reason -my brain criticises its every move, but if I try focusing on deep breathing, or visualizing sucking a white light into my lungs and blowing out all the gray gunk, that at least helps me relax. I don't know that I've ever even recognized planets in the sky. That must have been an enlightening experience.
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